unironedman

Way back in the mists of time, or 2002 as some folks like to call it, one of Ireland’s biggest political parties – Fianna Fáil – came up with the election slogan ‘a lot done, more to do’. Like all political jargon, it manages to pack in absolutely nothing of substance in its manifest wonderfulness. Just like the party that birthed it, it’s suitably vague, and it can be applied to almost any situation you care to think of. I suppose it’s not the worst…

And so, in the spirit of recycling, I’ll use it again. In the context of running, naturally. Just the basic metric of running totals shows that over the last year (May 2025 to April 2026), the last month of April shows the biggest monthly total. Not that impressive, compared to other years, at 4k shy of 100k. Considering some months in times past show totals upwards of 275k… those were the days! 🙂

Part of the reason for this was last year’s running programme, which peaked a little early with the Connemara Ultra back at the end of April last year. And as avid readers of unironedman know, without a race to train for, my mind tends to wander, and with it, any semblance of a regular running plan. This year, there is a return to the classic ‘marathon in October’ plan. Traditionally, this would have been Dublin, at Hallowe’en, but this year, I am going abroad, to Abingdon, in Oxford. Which gives me a decent Summer focus, and to kickstart the whole schemozzle, I set myself the unenviable task of trying to break the twenty minute barrier for a 5k.

This week was a bad time to start on that particular adventure. My brother Rob had his sixtieth birthday party in the old homestead, which necessitated weeks and weeks of planning, tidying, scrubbing, washing and catering prep. We ended up cooking a barbecue for about sixty people, so it was a long, sweaty day slaving over a hot griddle. Great fun, of course. But I also managed to have a throat infection that same week, peaking on the day of the party, and I lost my voice, so singing was off the agenda. Mixed blessing, I suppose 😉

So the 5k plan should kick in next week, and runs for about nine weeks, so about mid-July I should be ready(ish) to take on the challenge. And even if it transpires that the barrier is too high, it should be a great addition to my training for Abingdon later in the year. And I’ll have my super shoes along for the ride. Not quite the Adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 3 that Sawe wore for his astounding London Marathon epic sub-two hour time. But a close cousin, nonetheless.

Very poetry-heavy finale to this post. It’s my blog; get yer own gags 🙂